[Consolidation] - Improve Opening of Markdown Links in Edit mode

This thread is to consolidate several feature requests\bug reports about the handling of standard markdown links in the editor.

In particular, it would be nice to:

  • Have obsidian intelligently distinguish between internal links and external links (right now everything is handled as external)
  • If the link is internal, have open (ctrl+click), open in a new pane (ctrl+shift+click) behave like wikilinks.
  • Make follow link under cursor (alt+enter) work.
8 Likes

Ctrl+Click on a URL in the editor opens the link in the browser. Alt+Enter does not. I believe it should. I also would like to be able to Alt+Enter on the link name and not just the URL itself. i.e. anywhere on https://obsidian.md/ and [Obsidian](https://obsidian.md/).

10 Likes

I second this request. This would hopefully also enable following internal links that are written as markdown links.

2 Likes

This is also the only way to make links work that contain LaTeX in the display text, and it’s a less painful way to make links in Tables.

In edit mode: Ctrl+Click on filename in edit mode should open also link in standard markdown format [local title](filename), not only [[filename]].
I appreciate, it already works for external links when the protocol is specified. E.g. to external application “TheBrain” in format [](brain://...).


Edit 2022-01-07:
From Markdown link [titles](not only URLs) should be clickable in edit mode - #2 by malecjan :

This has been finally implemented in Obsidian v0.13.6.

Implemented Ctrl/Cmd+Click on markdown links.

It is mentioned under Live preview improvements but it works in legacy editor too. (tested in v0.13.14)


Additional requests: It should work also when “filename” is full absolute or relative path. When filename contains extension which is not “.md”, Then it should open the file in default application. Requirement to specify “file:///” looses the elegance of concise markdown format.

2 Likes

related: Markdown link [titles](not only URLs) should be clickable in edit mode

Use case or problem

Proposed solution

Users can open a markdown link under the cursor via pressing hotkey or command palatte, whether in edit mode or preview mode.
It just like Vim-Easymotion, when a hotkey is pressed, all the links are alternative and could be opened.
In fact, a third-party plugin has realized this function, but it can only be used in preview mode.
I think this would be a cool feature if it were implemented in edit mode.
Most importantly, a markdown link can’t be opened via pressing hotkey now.

Current workaround

A markdown link under the cursor can’t be opened in edit mode via pressing hotkey, however a wiki-link can be opened in edit mode by using hotkey

3 Likes

Second this request. I always use standard Markdown links to enable mobile access to my notes, as there’s no mobile Markdown editor supporting Obsidian wiki link format so far.

I also second this request. Based on the forum I started trying out HookProductivity and found it powerful, but the markdown links it creates are not launchable with a keyboard shortcut which would be very helpful.

This will be implemeted in v0.10.2.
In markdown links, the links that start with xxxxxxxx:// are assumed to be external, the others are internal.

2 Likes